A Federal High Court in Abuja has sentenced five individuals, including two citizens of the Republic of Niger, to 25 years imprisonment each for providing arms and logistical support to terrorists responsible for the mass abduction of students and teachers from St. Mary’s Catholic School in Papiri Village, Niger State.
Justice Binta Nyako handed down the convictions after the defendants pleaded guilty to terrorism-related charges brought by the Federal Government.
The convicts — Yusuf Mohammed (also known as Bature), Goni Ibrahim Bindi (alias Goni Mutuwa), Sani Tukur (alias Danladi), Mubarak Ibrahim, and Musa Alhaji Adamu (also known as Gado Banufe) — were found guilty of facilitating the movement of weapons and ammunition intended for terrorist operations.
According to the Director of Public Prosecutions of the Federation, Rotimi Oyedepo, SAN, who led the prosecution, the defendants acted as arms couriers, transporting 15 AK-103 rifles and 1,434 rounds of 7.62mm live ammunition from the Diffa Region of the Republic of Niger to a Boko Haram operative identified as Malam Ahmad in Borgu Local Government Area of Niger State.
Investigations revealed that the weapons were concealed in sacks and transported in a blue Volkswagen Golf bearing Republic of Niger registration number BT 9990 DA. The court heard that the defendants knowingly aided terrorist activities by delivering the cache of arms in violation of the Terrorism (Prevention and Prohibition) Act, 2022.
Justice Nyako sentenced all five defendants to 25 years imprisonment and ordered the forfeiture of the Volkswagen Golf used in the operation to the Federal Government.
One of the charges established that the defendants conspired between April 23 and 24, 2026, to transport the weapons on behalf of the terrorist suspect. Three of the convicts — Goni Ibrahim Bindi, Sani Tukur, and Musa Alhaji Adamu — were additionally convicted for unlawful possession of firearms and ammunition concealed in sacks of dried fish and intercepted during a security operation along the Kano-Kaduna Expressway.
Yusuf Mohammed was also convicted for failing to provide information that could have aided security agencies in apprehending Malam Ahmad, despite allegedly having knowledge of the terrorist’s activities and whereabouts in the Gandu Forest area of Borgu Local Government Area.
The convictions followed an extensive investigation by the Department of State Services (DSS) into the November 21, 2025 attack on St. Mary’s Catholic School, during which heavily armed terrorists stormed the school on motorcycles and abducted students and teachers at gunpoint.
While approximately 50 students escaped during the attack, more than 250 others were forced to march for days into the Kainji Lake Reserve Forest. All abducted victims were eventually rescued and reunited with their families on December 24, 2025.
Subsequent DSS investigations uncovered the arms supply and logistics network that enabled the attack, leading to the arrest and prosecution of the five convicts.
The judgment is being viewed as a major victory in Nigeria’s counterterrorism efforts, targeting not only terrorist groups but also the supply chains, financiers, and logistical networks that sustain their operations.
